Fish Friendly Stain Removers

It's been a long first 2 days of teaching for this blogger and it shows... my new khaki pants have a nice, large glob of dried up glue, not to mention whatever else accumulated at the bottom hem (I tend to buy longer than necessary pants).

But I'm not worried because I found 2 products that are amazing at removing stains... and eco-friendly too.

1. Ecover Stain Remover. Ecover, according to their website, contains plant based ingredients, is completely biodegradable, and has "minimum impact on aquatic life". It also does quite a number on stains... including stains that I've used OTHER stain removers on, with no luck. I love this stuff, and to be honest, I really love this brand... more on that in a future blog. :)

2. Bi-O-Kleen Bac-Out Stain & Odor Eliminator. This is another environmentally friendly product, containing live enzymes, which apparently has no negative effects on our rivers, streams and aquatic life. I've found it very useful, not just on laundry, but also around the house. My cat got sick a few weeks ago, basically all over my apartment. (She's okay now, for the record). Bac-Out got rid of every last stain on the carpet... in fact, my carpet looks cleaner than it used to! Apparently it can be used in the bathroom too, although I haven't tried that yet.

For the record, I bought both these products through drugstore.com, although I know that Ecover is at my local "natural food stores" (for lack of a better term). And on that note, I'm off to attack my pants!

Beat the Heat (of Cooling Costs)

Here in Texas, August is the hottest month of the year. (Well -- usually. This August our weather seems to be laughing in the face of global warming and has been about 20 degrees cooler than usual.) With temps hitting 100+ degrees on a regular basis, we have no choice but to run our air conditioners non-stop, and no choice but to wrack up huge bills for energy costs.

Or do we?

Did you know that by simply replacing your manual thermostat with a digital thermostat, you can save about $180 per year on cooling and heating costs? These thermostats can be purchased at any home improvement store for around $40, are easy to install, and enable you to program them according to your personal schedule and needs, ensuring that you stay cool (or warm) when you most need it, and that energy is never wasted when you're not home or when you're in bed at night.

Digital thermostats are not just for homeowners; back in our apartment days, my husband swapped out our old manual thermostat that we were constantly bumping up and down, and forgetting to adjust when we went out, and our energy costs dropped noticeably.

So be cool: replace your thermostat!

Back to School...

The start of the school year is upon us, and for many students (and teachers like me) that means packing lunches. Now I've always been one for the individually wrapped snacks - they're just so convenient. Unfortunately, they also create a LOT of trash. I realized this towards the end of the school year and started looking for ways to generate less trash, perhaps even NO trash, in my lunch - something known as a "litterless lunch".

Now, at first I thought that I could stop buying individually wrapped portions and just buy, for example, a large package of chips and then put the chips into baggies. However, plastic bags are just as wasteful - and I'm trying to stay away from plastic bags. Plastic containers are an option, but they take up a lot of space. So I stumbled upon a few products.

The first is Wrap-N-Mat. This is a mat that you can wrap around your sandwich (or perhaps other lunch items). It wraps very nicely around each sandwich that I made, and when my lunch is over, it takes up less space in my bag, which is great. The exterior is fabric (they have a selection of a few different kinds) and the interior is lined - I chose PEVA lining over PVC. It's easy to wipe clean the wrap-n-mat, which I find convenient.

I really love happy-sacks (see picture in this post). Think plastic baggie, made out of fabric with lining inside, and that's what a happy-sack is. I have quite a few of these, in different fabrics, and I use them to hold dry snacks - chips, rice cakes, nuts. They come in different sizes, and take up very little space. They're also very easy to take care of - I throw mine in the washing machine with no problems.

Both of these items have really helped me create litterless lunches and they weren't too expensive - plus they will last for quite a long time. Funny enough but these days I look forward to packing my lunch - it's actually fun selecting my happy-sacks and using my wrap-n-mat.

Here are some other important parts of litterless lunches:

1. Carry a reusable lunch bag.
   
2. Use a reusable water bottle.
3. Use silverware instead of plastic utensils.
4. Try a cloth napkin instead of a paper napkin.

With all these tips, I hope you will start looking at how you pack your lunch differently!

Bright Green

The "energy crisis" is one of the most frequently used phrases bandied about on the news, and is also one of the 2008 Presidential election hot buttons. Left in the hands of politicians, goodness only knows how long it'll take to avert this crisis. Fortunately for us, we don't have to know how many politicians it takes to screw in a lightbulb. (Answer: none; we can do it ourselves.)

Did you know that by swapping out those old incandescent lightbulbs for fluorescent bulbs, you can use up to 75% less energy to light up your home? Each bulb you replace with a fluorescent bulb will last up to ten times as long, as well as save you up to $30 over its lifespan. (And with the price of gas climbing every day, we can all use the extra cash!) Not only do fluorescent bulbs reduce costs associated with lighting, but they also burn 75% cooler than standard lightbulbs, thus reducing home cooling costs.

As if the personal benefits aren't incentive enough to make the switch, check out the effect this could have on a national level:

If every American home replaced just one light bulb...we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars. (EnergyStar.gov)

For more information on how to choose the right fluorescent bulbs for your home, check out Energy Star's helpful guide.

Now that's the brightest shade of green you ever saw.